Mythstaken Identity
by BiteMeTechie
Summary: It's hard enough trying to take down Giganta without being interrupted by one of Batman's foes. Really, it is.


_**A/N:** On the "Ask the Squishykins" tumblr, Twinings and I are currently offering ourselves up for two full weeks of filling fic prompts for our readers, varying in length from a hundred to a thousand-plus words. The project has been dubbed the Free For All Fic For All—or FFAFFA for short. This is one of those stories—and this is the boilerplate author's note you'll see on all of 'em. The current round of FFAFFA runs until July 15th__, so if you want a custom fic written to any particular specifications, drop by and ask for it!_

_**Prompt:**__ Maxie Zeus confronts Wonder Woman while she's fighting Giganta_

_**Notes**: As always, the part of my Maxie Zeus will be played by Brian Blessed. Because I say so._

* * *

Concrete crumpled under her boots like tinfoil with the scrape of stone on stone. Diana dug her heels in a little deeper and took up another inch of slack on her lasso.

"Come…quietly, Giganta," she commanded, clenching her teeth with the effort of keeping the delicate golden links in hand. If her enemy did not relent soon, her palms would begin to bleed. "You have hurt more than enough people already."

Diana dodged the Toyota that came flying toward her head and it sailed by, crashing into the building behind her. Her feet sank another inch into the concrete as she redoubled her efforts, giving a mighty pull on the lasso. "Yield!"

"Diana of Themyscira!" The voice came from somewhere to the left, entirely too proud and sonorous. "I would have an audience with you!"

_Oh, what **now**…_

Giganta noticed the brief distraction of her enemy and flashed her a smirk. She gave the lasso a sharp yank, cracking it like a whip, and Diana's feet left the ground. The Amazon's body collided with a mailbox, which collapsed from the force, spewing its contents all over the street. Still, even as she struggled out of a pile of letters, she didn't release the lasso.

A hand clutched her shoulder once she got to her feet. "Daughter…"

Diana didn't even give Maxie Zeus a sideways glance, just shoved him out of harm's way as Giganta reached for the nearest street light, tearing it out of the sidewalk. "Release me. I am busy!"

Lifting off the ground, Wonder Woman threw her entire weight at Giganta amidst a shower of sparks, pinning her against the side of a nearby florist's van and crushing it flat. Mangled flowers and broken glass flew in every conceivable direction on impact. Giganta was not deterred. Her large hands wrapped around Diana's throat and squeezed, doing their level best to crush her windpipe. An ordinary human being may have panicked, but she just thrust the hand not clutching the lasso into the villain's hair, wrapped it around her palm a few times to get a good grip and then slammed Giganta's head into the metal of the van a few times.

With a _thunk thunk, THUNK!_ she lost consciousness, and Diana pried the fingers from around her throat. After tying Giganta up with her lasso, she took the chance to gasp a few times and brush some errant rose petals out of her hair.

"Diana!"

Her eyes cast heavenward for a moment before she turned, just in time to see Maxie Zeus trotting up to her in a makeshift toga that had been fastened over his Arkham grays. She sighed, dragging Giganta off the ground as he approached.

Without warning, an inky shape shot out of the sky like a bullet, knocking Maxie sideways.

In a flurry of black fabric, Batman hauled Maxie up by the collar, ripping his toga off in the process.

"Now, see here, Hades," Maxie scolded, "I'm here to speak to my daughter!"

"Diana," Batman said with a nearly imperceptible tip of his head. The gesture bordered on the downright cordial.

"Batman," she returned, throwing a groaning and groggy Giganta over her shoulder.

"Let me go!" Maxie demanded. "This is none of your concern, brother!"

Diana turned to Maxie and regarded him much more kindly than Batman ever would have. "I thought we talked about this…"

"Yes, yes, I know, you say you are so busy that you will only visit me on Father's Day—" Maxie said self-importantly, "—though a secular holiday, such tribute pleases Zeus—but this is a matter of life or death!"

Diana sighed. "Yes?"

"Don't encourage him." Someone else might have smiled while saying it. Batman wasn't someone else.

Maxie's voice dropped an octave, becoming secretive. "We must speak about Demeter!"

Diana's eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch. "Demeter…"

"Poison Ivy," Batman clarified. "A transport van crashed outside the city. Zeus isn't alone."

Maxie nodded quickly. "She is quick to temper, daughter, and has sworn vengeance upon—"

"I'll take care of it," Diana said firmly to Maxie, then to Batman, "See that—" her upper lip quirked up. "—my _father_ returns safely to Olympus."

"Ha! She obeys my command as I knew she would!" Maxie said to Batman as the vigilante hoisted him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "My daughter is the finest warrior since Perseus, and twice the woman besides!"

Batman's grappling gun deployed, the anchor lodging itself on the roof of the nearest building. He lifted off the ground with Zeus in tow, still crowing and slapping him on the back, "Ha ha! A jest, you know! Because Perseus was not a woman!"

"Hrm."

"You never did have a sense of humor, Hades."


End file.
